A 61-year-old Oklahoma tenant allegedly turned an eviction call into a fire-filled standoff by spraying an aerosol can at deputies and lighting it as they entered his apartment.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office said the Aug. 11 call in Oklahoma City started as an eviction order and quickly put deputies within about 15 feet of flames, exposed wiring, a car battery and taped-together aerosol cans.
Darron Dunn was inside the apartment when deputies arrived shortly before noon. Housing Authority staff unlocked the door, but deputies could not push it fully open, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators later tied the blocked entrance to cables connected to the door and an electric wheelchair positioned behind it.
Once deputies got inside, the danger shifted to a bedroom.
Dunn was seated there when he allegedly sprayed an aerosol can toward a deputy and a Housing Authority security officer, then lit the spray, the incident report said.
Body-camera video captured a bright fireball flashing through the doorway.
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“Back up!” an officer yelled as deputies retreated.
The deputy felt “extreme heat” from the fire, which the sheriff’s office said traveled about 15 feet in his direction.
As deputies moved away from the flames, they saw wiring near Dunn and near the apartment entrance.
A car battery with wires was close to Dunn, while another wired setup sat near the front door, the sheriff’s office said.
“He’s got it hooked up to the battery!” one officer shouted on the video.
The sight of the battery and wiring changed the call from a fire scare to a possible explosive-device response.
“Everybody out! Improvised device! Get out!” another officer yelled.
The object later examined by authorities was made from rows of butane lighter-fluid and carburetor-cleaner aerosol cans taped together with bare wires attached, the incident report said.
Deputies evacuated residents from the third floor and nearby levels while the sheriff’s tactical team and bomb squad responded to the building.
Dunn was ultimately taken out of the apartment in his wheelchair after officers disabled the wiring connected to the cans, authorities said.
A spokesperson for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News that bomb technicians did not believe the wired aerosol-can device would explode in the condition they found it.
The spokesperson said the exposed wires could have sparked or heated if they touched the car-battery terminal, but technicians did not think the setup would detonate.
Dunn was first taken to a VA hospital because of medical issues and stress before being placed in a mental hospital, the incident report said.
The case produced out-of-custody charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; possessing, using, manufacturing or threatening to use an incendiary device or explosives; and obstructing an officer.
The sheriff’s office spokesperson said eviction calls can be “so emotionally charged” that deputies sometimes encounter dangerous reactions.
The Aug. 11 call was not the only eviction-related danger the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office cited.
Four years earlier, officers were attacked during another similar eviction-related incident, the spokesperson said. About a year ago, another eviction call allegedly ended with a man trying to set a deputy on fire before setting himself ablaze and dying.
In Missouri, the danger came from beneath officers’ feet before they could make an arrest.
Nine law enforcement officers were lined up outside a second-story apartment door in Huntsville on July 21 when the wooden deck collapsed, dropping them to the ground as they prepared to arrest 26-year-old Jacob Alexander Munoz.
The Associated Press reported that Munoz was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender.
Body-camera footage posted by the U.S. Marshals Service showed several armed officers outside the apartment on the 400 block of Vaunita Street before the deck gave way.
The warrant team included the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department, the Moberly Police Department, the North Missouri Drug Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Seven officers were taken to hospitals and later released, according to Steven Lewis, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Lewis said the injuries included broken bones and were “consistent with a pretty serious fall,” but none were life-threatening.
Munoz was arrested later that day, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender Registry said Munoz was convicted in July 2022 of possessing child pornography. The registry listed his victim as a girl between the ages of 9 and 13 and said the offense happened in Randolph County in March 2020.
Munoz had been released from confinement on Sept. 24, 2024, and his parole was set to end on June 24, 2028, according to the registry.
Four Deputy U.S. Marshals, two North Missouri Drug Task Force members and one county deputy were among the injured officers.
The Randolph County Sheriff’s Department was serving the arrest warrant with help from the U.S. Marshals Service.
The U.S. Marshals Service said the footage showed “both the unpredictable dangers law enforcement faces and the discipline and preparedness of the team under extreme conditions.”
The agency also said no officers’ firearms discharged during the fall.
Lewis told ABC17 the deck dropped “almost as if a trap door opened.”
“Not away from the structure, but straight down, which gave them almost no time to react,” Lewis said.
